no tow-headed fairies under these toadstools
just the brushed locks of golden calyptras
redstem bentleaf and purple wall moss—
common and obvious—
and silver cushion’s larcenous awns
reflecting someone else’s color

and yet the light sponging under the surface
the light beaked slender in clumps of fern

while lovers’ moss on rotten stumps
tremble spores on their wet fingertips

Nocturne

I
I warm my hands with a tin cup
of hot chocolate and rum,
keep vigil under the lunar eclipse
while the children conjure the maundering
bats; they throw stones in the water
and up in the air to summon
the wild inky creatures.

They circle the subdued moon with small fingers
sure of their dominion.

See the slick and shiny part? one says
to the other. That’s the moon smiling.

II
Somewhere in the ocean right now
there’s a warm-blooded moonfish,
tinfoil skin so thin a fingernail
can scrape it away.
Fins red as though
he has already been speared.

Even science can’t explain
how he heats not only
the cold blood in his veins
but also the ocean around him—
how he wills his heart hot.

III
The match pins light to the tip
of my cigarette, an illicit ash lamp
outside my sleeping daughters’ window
under the blue bowl of sky
chipped with stars.

The eclipse is ending
and the sun’s light salvages
the moon from earth’s shadow,
parcels out the gleam
in luminous increments.

I tell myself I’m not lingering
to see if I, too, am worth saving.

IV
Moonfish,
you bring the night with you like a gift,
cup it in your cool hands, carry it
in the pockets of the jacket you
press against my sleepy indoor skin.

You are still sleeping
when I get up in the dark
of early morning.
You sleep like one
who wants to be caught.

The moon is so bright
my retina makes room for it.

A semi-permanent place so
everywhere I look

there’s a moon.

Elizabeth Vignali is an optician and writer in Bellingham, Washington. Her poems have appeared in various publications, including Willow Springs, Cincinnati Review, Tinderbox, Natural Bridge, and Nimrod. Her chapbook, Object Permanence, is available from Finishing Line Press.